Seongho Cha

Seongho Cha
Seongho Cha performing in 2009
Born	South Korea
Other names	Jimmy Cha
Occupation	Dancer
Years active	2002–present
Korean name
Hangul	차성호
Revised Romanization	Cha Seongho
McCune–Reischauer	Ch'a Sŏngho

Seongho Cha (Korean: 차성호; also known as Jimmy Cha^[1]) is a South Korean dancer currently with the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts. Cha began dancing at the age of 15^[2] and rose to prominence in his home country of South Korea, winning top honors at a national ballet competition^[3] and going on to represent South Korea at the 2006 USA International Ballet Competition.^[4][5]

Life and career

Cha joined Anaheim Ballet in 2002 as a soloist and principal dancer. He subsequently won a full scholarship to study dance at Point Park University, where he was called a "resident powerhouse technician."^[6] While dancing the lead role of Ichabod Crane at a Pittsburgh Playhouse production of Sleepy Hollow in 2004, Cha was lauded as a "complete package…a deceptively intelligent dancer."^[7] Cha graduated with a BA in dance from the Conservatory of Performing Arts in 2006 and continued his studies at New York University.^[8] Cha had also previously attended Sejong University in Seoul. He has an interest in Oriental medicine and has sought to find ways of combining the philosophy of traditional medicine with his dance.^[9]

In 2008, Cha made the transition from ballet to classical Chinese dance, joining Shen Yun Performing Arts as a principal dancer.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. Victoria Looseleaf, Online, performers step it up, Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2008.
2. Anaheim Ballet, Inside Rehearsal: Jimmy Cha
3. Shen Yun Performing Arts, Meet the artists > Seongho Cha Archived 2012-01-10 at the Wayback Machine
4. Clarion Ledger, 2006 USA IBC competitors by country
5. Renee Renouf, Jackson International Ballet Competition Archived 2014-09-21 at the Wayback Machine, Ballet Magazine, June 2006
6. Jane Vranish, Dance review: Students generate powerful moves in Byham show, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 18 March 2006.
7. Jane Vranish, Dance review: 'Sleepy Hollow' is a Halloween treat, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 23 October 2004.
8. Olivia Flores Alvarez. Shen Yun Performing Arts, Houston Press, 17 Dec 2009
9. Korea Times, "Oriental Ballet", 02/04/2004

External links

Media related to Seongho Cha at Wikimedia Commons

• Anaheim Ballet video profile of Seongho (Jimmy) Cha
• Profile on Shen Yun Performing Arts